Peso weakens to a 19-month low of P58.68:$1

The Philippine peso depreciated even further against the US dollar on  Monday to carve a 19-month low following the release of local data which pointed to slower manufacturing growth in May and the continued hot money outflows in April.

The local unit shed 17 centavos to close at P58.68:$1 from last Friday’s finish of P58.51:$1. This is also the weakest showing of the peso since November 3, 2022, when it finished at P58.80:$1.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC)  Chief Economist Michael Ricafort attributed Monday’s weakness to the release of manufacturing data for May, which showed that the PMI fell to 51.9 in May

He also cited the wider net foreign portfolio investments, which showed that investments registered with the central bank through authorized agent banks saw a net outflow of $312.18 million in April, wider than the $ 236.02 million outflow in March.

This comes ahead of the release of inflation data on Wednesday, June 5, which the central bank projects could have reached as high as 4.5% in May, faster than the government’s target range of 2.0% to 4.0%.

“Going forward, the performance of the US dollar/peso exchange rate would partly be a function of intervention/defense as consistently seen over the past 1.5 years,” Ricafort said in a mobile message.

BSP  Senior Assistant Governor Iluminada Sicat last week said the recent weakness of the peso is only temporary, as the greenback is buoyed by developments overseas.

In terms of equities, the local stock barometer PSEi gained 37.64 points or 0.59% to 6,470.74 at the closing bell. The broader All Shares index grew by 7.18 points or 0.21% to 3,471.05.

“The local bourse opened the week positively despite a slight dip in the S&P PMI for  May, which fell to 51.9 from 52.2 in April. Investors now await the PH  CPI release on June 5,” Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales  Luis Limlingan said in a separate mobile message.

More than  939.027 million shares, valued at P6.738 billion, changed hands.  Decliners led advancers, 103 to 90, while 45 issues were unchanged. — DVM, GMA Integrated News